8 years for rapper Lil Boosie in drug smuggle plot

Torrence "Lil Boosie" Hatch is a married father of three who has been at the center of several criminal investigations over the past few years. (Photo courtesy of Blastro.com)

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A Baton Rouge rapper known as "Lil Boosie" has been sentenced to eight years in prison following his guilty plea to drug charges.

The 29-year-old rapper's real name is Torrence Hatch. He pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to smuggle codeine, marijuana and ecstasy into two state prisons. They were the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola and Dixon Correctional Institute in Jackson, La.

Assistant District Attorney Dana Cummings says Hatch was serving a prison term for a separate conviction for marijuana possession when he smuggled the drugs with help from a prison guard.

State District Judge Mike Erwin in Baton Rouge sentenced him to the new prison term.

Hatch also faces a first-degree murder charge in the 2009 death of Terry Boyd. The trial is scheduled to start April 30.